Open Government Licence Guidance for Information Providers

This guidance outlines the purpose of the Open Government Licence (OGL) and explains public sector bodies need to do to offer their information and data under it.

What is the OGL?

The OGL is an open licensing model and tool for public sector bodies to license the re-use of their information and data easily. It consists of a simple set of terms and conditions to which public sector bodies simply point as the relevant licence. Use of information under the OGL is free and allows information to be re-used for commercial and non-commercial purposes.

Any public sector body can make their information available for use and re-use under the OGL. The National Archives has developed the OGL to enable the free use and re-use of public sector information, including information covered by Crown copyright and database right, under a common open licence.

The default licence for most Crown copyright and Crown database right information is the OGL. This ensures harmonised terms across the public sector, compliance with the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015 and reduces any administrative burden from public sector bodies in permitting the use and re-use of the information they hold and produce.

How to make information available for use and re-use under the OGL

The OGL can be found here.

To license information under the OGL, public bodies need to insert, in a prominent and noticeable location in or in the context of the information:

- a clear statement indicating that the information is licensed under the OGL
- the appropriate hyperlink to the OGL
- the attribution statement you require users to include when they use your information in their products and applications

The OGL Symbol

The National Archives has also developed, with help from the Government Digital Service, the OGL symbol as a simple way of identifying when information can be used and re-used. The OGL symbol shows users, at a glance, that information is covered by the OGL. Public sector bodies are therefore encouraged to use the OGL symbol on their websites and in publications wherever possible. Further guidance on use of the symbol is can be found here. Copyright notices and statements

The following statements offer examples how to apply the OGL to your information to:

Online information resources (including website statements)

© [Insert name of copyright and/or database right owner, if required]

This [insert name of information resource] is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated.

Print publications

© [Insert name of copyright and/or database right owner]

This publication is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/.

Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to: [information provider details].

Hyperlinks to the Open Government Licence

It is helpful to tell search engines that the link to the OGL is to a licence. To do this in HTML, use the rel="license" attribute. This will enable automated systems to identify that the information is subject to a licence with particular terms and conditions which can be found by following the link.

Where possible information providers should point to the permanent identifier for the OGL by embedding the following link:

<a href="http://reference.data.gov.uk/id/open-government-licence" rel="license">Open Government Licence</a>

Alternatively, where information providers do not use the rel="license" attribute, they can put in a simple hyperlink:

<a href="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence">Open Government Licence</a> Specifying attribution statements

The OGL requires that users attribute the information provider and source of the information they use. Where you require a specific form of attribution, you should include a statement with the above copyright notices, such as the following example:

*When you use this information under the OGL, you should include the following attribution: [insert name of information resource, information provider and/or rights owner, date of publication], licensed under the Open Government Licence [insert link].*